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After briefly dipping into Summit League play in the beginning of December, IUPUI resumes conference action when it hosts Western Illinois on Friday, Dec. 31, at 3 p.m. in The Jungle.

·         IUPUI begins a three-game road trip when it heads to Murray, Ky., to take on Murray State on Tuesday, Jan. 4, at 7 p.m.

·         Playing its first game in 15 days, IUPUI showed signs of rust and fell in an early double-digit hole that it could not crawl out of as it dropped a 69-52 decision to Savannah State.

·         The Jaguars came into the game averaging a shade over 40 points per game in the paint in their last four contests, but the size of Savannah State limited IUPUI to half that total and the 36-20 scoring advantage inside proved to be the difference for the Tigers.

·         The Jaguars were rusty in the opening minutes missing on both of their shot attempts and committing four turnovers giving the Tigers extra opportunities to score early and often. Savannah State used the extra possessions to score in the lane and it jumped out to a 12-0 lead 3:40 into the game.

·         IUPUI got on the board with a Janna Eichelberger lay-up at the 16:18 mark and then minimized their deficit to double digits with 10:50 to play before Savannah State took control.

·         SSU continued to score in the paint and converted their free throws while the Jags shooting woes from both the field and the charity stripe continued. The tough first half for IUPUI was capped off when Savannah State’s leading scorer, Darice Fountaine, buried a 3-pointer at the buzzer sending the Jags into the half trailing 37-18.

·         IUPUI connected on 7-of-23 attempts from the floor and 3-of-8 tries from the charity stripe in the opening 20 minutes in addition to turning the ball over 15 times. Defensively, the Jaguars had a hard time keeping Savannah State out of the lane as 10 of the Tigers 14 buckets came in the paint en route to 58.3 percent shooting in the opening stanza.

·         Out of the half, Shakeeta Cotton buried a 3-pointer from the right wing and made some hustle plays to help the Jaguars creep back into the game.

·         Two Eichelberger lay-ups and a free throw alongside a Jasmine Horne free throw gave the Jags 10 points in the first 4:03 as they cut their deficit to 42-28.

·         An old-fashioned three-point play by Gretchen Gaskin with 10:45 on the clock kept the Jaguars within 16 points, 48-32, but an 11-4 run by the Tigers stretched the SSU lead to 59-36 with5:49 remaining.

·         An 8-0 IUPUI run late in the game featuring a pair of Kerah Nelson free throws and two deep 3-pointers by Shea Collins brought IUPUI back within 15 points, 59-44, but that would be as close as the Jags reached as they fell, 69-52.

·         Collins and Horne were two of the three double-figure scorers for IUPUI leading the way with 11 points apiece.

·         After going down with what appeared to be a serious knee injury in a Dec. 6 win over Centenary, IUPUI’s leading scorer Kerah Nelson returned to the lineup at Savannah State after missing three games.

·         Nelson played 30 minutes, scored six points, and led the Jags with eight rebounds.

·         Last season, the Jaguars finished 3-26, setting a school-record for the most single-season losses in program history.

·         Under the direction of first-year head coach Austin Parkinson, IUPUI earned its third win of the season on Friday, Dec. 10, with a 65-48 win over Southern Illinois., matching the 2009-10 win total in just nine games.

·         When the Jags play Western Illinois on Friday, Dec. 31, IUPUI will be looking to win its second league game, which would equal its 2009-10 conference win total.

 

·         In the absence of leading scorer Kerah Nelson from Dec. 6 through 12, Janna Eichelberger picked up the slack offensively and led IUPUI in scoring in each of the three games during that stretch.

·         With Nelson back in the lineup against Savannah State on Dec. 28, Eichelberger continued her strong offensive play and has emerged as a scoring threat for the Jags.

·         It all started against Centenary on Dec. 6, when she scored a career-high 21 points and grabbed 13 rebounds en route to a conference win over the Ladies.

·         Another double-double ensued consisting of 17 points and 10 boards against Southern Illinois, before pouring in team highs of 14 points and eight rebounds in a loss at St. Francis (NY) on Dec. 12.

·         Since a Dec. 6, Eichelberger is averaging 15.5 ppg and grabbing 9.3 rpg.

·         Eichelberger has scored in double figures five times this season, including each of the last four outings.

 

·         While Eichelberger has been leading the team in scoring and rebounding the last three outings, she has received help from her teammates.

·         Over the past four games, the Jags have six players averaging over 6.0 ppg.

·         Gretchen Gaskin is the second-leading scorer during that stretch averaging 9.3 ppg.

·         The other players averaging over 6.0 ppg are Jasmine Horne (8.3 ppg), Shea Collins (7.0 ppg), Clara Mitchell (6.3 ppg), and Kerah Nelson (6.0 ppg).

 

·         Through the first six games, IUPUI struggled scoring in the paint.

·         During that stretch, the Jaguars were being outscored 34.3 to 19.0 by their opponents in the lane and just 42.1 percent of their total points were coming in the paint .

·         Over the next four games, IUPUI reversed that trend and averaged over 40.0 ppg in the paint against Oral Roberts, Centenary, Southern Illinois, and St. Francis (NY).

·         Against Oral Roberts, the Jags scored 40 of their 70 points in the paint, marking season-highs in both total points and points in the paint.

·         Those season-highs were short-lived as the Jags came out on Dec. 6 against Centenary and scored 46 points inside and scored 74 total points.

·         The Jags made it three games in a row scoring 40-plus points in the lane by scoring 40 points in the paint in a 65-48 win over Southern Illinois and the trend continued against St. Francis on Dec. 12 with another 40-point effort in the paint.

·         Compared to scoring 42.1 percent of their points in the paint in the early stages of the season, the Jaguars scored 62.9 percent of their points in the paint during that stretch.

·         However, after the 15-day lay-off, IUPUI struggled in the paint against the taller Savannah State Tigers and were outscored 36-20.

·         With the increased productivity in the lane, the Jaguars have been able to work the ball inside out resulting in more wide open jumpers for their perimeter players.

·         One of the players who have proven to be a deep threat for IUPUI is Shea Collins.

·         Collins is averaging 8.2 ppg in IUPUI’s last five games and is hitting 2.2 3-pointers per game during that stretch.

·         She has hit three 3-pointers in a game four times this season and leads the team in 3-point field goals made (17).

·         On the season, she is averaging 1.5 treys per game, tying for tenth in the Summit League.